


Autograph

by Sodalitefully



Series: Guns N Roses AUs :) [7]
Category: Guns N' Roses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, First Meetings, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:55:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27660986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sodalitefully/pseuds/Sodalitefully
Summary: Izzy finds the name that matches his soulmark.
Relationships: Slash/Izzy Stradlin
Series: Guns N Roses AUs :) [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2014690
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	Autograph

**Author's Note:**

> "I was working in the Hollywood Music Store the day a slinky guy dressed like Johnny Thunders came up to me. He was wearing tight black jeans, creepers, dyed black hair, and pink socks. He had a copy of my Aerosmith drawing in his hand that a mutual friend had given him: apparently prints of it had been made and circulated. This guy had been inspired enough to seek me out, especially when he heard I was a lead guitar player." - Slash

Izzy was seeing double. He looked up at the poorly photocopied drawing in his left hand, then down at his right forearm. Up at the grainy scribble in the bottom corner of the page, an artist’s signature hidden below a boot-clad foot belonging to a caricature of Joe Perry, shredding alongside the rest of late 70s-era Aerosmith. Down at the dark, looping scrawl that interrupted the pale skin of his inner arm, just below his elbow where the mark was usually hidden by a shirtsleeve.

Disbelief was slowly drowned by giddiness. Izzy’s soulmark was unusual, he’d known it since it first appeared when he was twelve and his mother had failed to hide her concerned and disappointed expression. He’d gotten into the rock scene, even left home to get closer to the action, not because of any natural-born talent, but because where else would he find a person going by the name Slash? Certainly not on a factory line, or in a church pew, or at the corner store in Bumfuck, USA.

And he had been right! He may not have made it big (at least, not yet), but he _had_ found his soulmate. Years of shitty bands and stolen instruments had all been validated. The proof was in his hands. 

“Hey.” Izzy shouldered in front of the guy who handed him the photocopy, not about to leave him alone until he got the answers he needed. “Hey, do you know the guy that drew this?” 

— — — 

Hollywood Music. Izzy had shopped here before, but he doesn’t remember seeing this kid at the counter last time he was here. By God, he would have remembered if he had: the kid was _cute._

Izzy had speculated about his soulmate before, of course. Everyone did. He wondered if his match would be similar to him, in harmony, or if they would be different personality types, distinct but complimentary. He wondered about their appearance (especially with an unusual name like _Slash_ to go off of), but he’d always assumed that whatever they looked like, they would be attractive to him. It never occurred to Izzy that his soulmate might be _beautiful._

Dark eyes, perfect lips, curls that swayed as he bobbed his head in time with the music playing in the store radio… Plus, he played guitar if the guy who gave him the drawing was to be believed. 

Fuck, he was getting ahead of himself. For all he knew, the cashier he was staring at through the store window like a creep wasn’t even Slash. Of course, there was only one way to know for sure. Izzy steeled himself with one last drag on his cigarette, trying and failing to calm his nerves. An obnoxious buzzer sounded as the door swung open and Izzy strode right up to the checkout counter. 

"Hey. Are you the guy who drew this?” Izzy didn’t waste any time getting to the point, he couldn’t stand to draw out the suspense any longer. He carefully smoothed the drawing out on the counter and the cashier’s eyes dropped down to study it. It seemed to take ages for him to respond. 

“Yeah,” he said finally, in a slow, flat California drawl. 

“What’s your name?” Izzy only realized how shallow his breathing was when he started to feel lightheaded. The guy at the counter must have noticed because he eyed Izzy kinda suspiciously. 

“Slash.” Izzy’s heart skipped a beat. It was him. Izzy never thought of himself as a romantic, but this moment felt like it must be the most crucial one in his entire life. 

“I’m Izzy Stradlin.” Slash didn’t bat an eye at the name, but that didn’t mean anything. Lots of soulmate pairs had mismatched marks, maybe Slash’s was a symbol or a timer or something. “I have your name on my arm.” 

Slash’s eyes went huge behind his curly bangs. 

“No shit.” His surprise hadn’t quite caught up to his tone of voice, but his expression was clearly stunned. Izzy couldn’t blame him, you don’t exactly go to work every day expecting to meet your soulmate. 

“No shit,” Izzy confirmed, rolling up his sleeve to prove it. Slash looked at Izzy’s arm, then pushed a cluster of silver bracelets down his own wrist to check a mark that Izzy couldn’t make out. He walked around the counter and stood right next to Izzy, still glancing between the two marks. He held his wrist out for Izzy to see. 

A triangle? No, an arrow. A compass needle, pointing straight at Izzy’s heart. 

— — —

**Author's Note:**

> An old one from the tumblr archive. 
> 
> I wasn’t looking at said drawing when I wrote this – actually, if you do look the drawing up, it’s signed Saul Hudson, not Slash. Oh well.


End file.
